The Ultimate Guide to Cruelty-Free Nail Polish Brands
When I first switched to using all vegan beauty and household products, I was really surprised at how easy it was to find vegan nail polish. There are a lot of cruelty-free brands that offer a lot of vegan options and there are also a lot of brands that offer vegan nail polish too. A lot of people have seemed really surprised when they learn that all nail polish isn’t vegan.
People know about animal testing and what brands to avoid because of that, but not about animal ingredients that polish can contain. The short story is that a lot of brands test on animals, but a lot of nail polish also contains animal ingredients. Read more about what makes nail polish vegan and learn what these animal ingredients are.
Below are brands that are not only cruelty-free but also offer vegan nail polishes.
Cruelty-Free Nail Polish Brands:
- 100% Pure
- AILA Cosmetics
- Barry M
- Beauty Without Cruelty – 100% vegan
- Blu Ink Nail Lacquer – 100% vegan
- Butter London
- Ciaté
- Color Club
- Deborah Lippmann
- Deco Miami – 100% vegan
- Dimension Nails – 100% vegan
- ELF – 100% vegan
- Ella + Mila
- Fairypants
- Joshik Polish
- Habit Cosmetics
- Gabriel Cosmetics
- Kester Black
- KL Polish – 100% vegan
- La Couleur Couture (LACC)
- Lauren B. Beauty – 100% vegan
- LVX – 100% vegan
- Madam Glam – 100% vegan
- Manic Panic
- Marc Jacobs Beauty
- Mented Cosmetics – 100% vegan
- Milani
- Mineral Fusion
- NCLA Beauty – 100% vegan
- No Miss
- Nash + Pino – 100% vegan
- NYX – It should be noted that they are cruelty-free, but their parent company is not. =
- OOO Polish (Triple O Polish) – 100% vegan
- ORLY
- Pacifica – 100% vegan
- Pear Nova – 100% vegan
- People of Color Beauty – 100% vegan
- piCture pOlish
- Piggy Paint
- Piggy Polish
- Pixi Beauty
- Priti NYC
- RMS Beauty
- Ruby Kisses
- Sienna Byron Bay – 100% vegan
- SpaRitual
- Sugarpill Cosmetics
- Trust Fund Beauty
- Ulta Collection
- Urban Decay – It should be noted that they are cruelty-free, but their parent company is not.
- Wrenn – 100% vegan
- Zoya
Cruelty-Free Gel Polish Brands:
The following cruelty-free brands also make cruelty-free gel polish.
- Barry M
- Deborah Lippmann
- Dimension Nails – 100% vegan
- Madam Glam – 100% vegan
- NCLA Beauty – 100% vegan
- OOO Polish (Triple O Polish) – 100% vegan
- Pear Nova – 100% vegan
Cruelty-Free Builder Gel Polish Brands:
- Dimension Nails – 100% vegan
- Madam Glam – 100% vegan
Cruelty-Free Builder Dip Powder Brands:
- Dimension Nails – 100% vegan
- Madam Glam – 100% vegan
Cruelty-Free Poly Gel Polish Brands:
- Dimension Nails – 100% vegan
- Madam Glam – 100% vegan
Cruelty-Free Drugstore Nail Polish Brands:
The following are cruelty-free nail polish brands that can be found in the drugstore:
- Barry M
- Beauty Without Cruelty – 100% vegan
- ELF – 100% vegan
- Ella + Mila
- Gabriel Cosmetics
- Milani
- Mineral Fusion
- NYX – It should be noted that they are cruelty-free, but their parent company is not.
- ORLY
- Pacifica – 100% vegan
- Pixi Beauty
- Ulta Collection
- Zoya
Nail Polish Brands that are NOT Cruelty-Free:
The following brands are not cruelty-free and also make nail polish. This is not a full list but just includes the most popular brands out there.
- Creative Nail Design (CND)
- Essie
- Formula X
- L’Oreal
- Max Factor
- Maybelline
- Revlon
- Rimmel
- Sally Hansen
- Sinful Colors
Do you know of other cruelty-free nail polish brands? Please comment and let me know! I’d love to keep expanding this list to include more options!
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I use a lot one brand named Mineral Fusion
Color Secrets Nail Polish! It is a new line, but it is high quality vegan polish at very affordable prices. They also have huge color selections that include vegan glitter and shimmers. I just ordered from them again to stock up my nail salon….Can’t go wrong with the quality and pricing, with the vegan formula to top it off!! If you would like any product review or want more information how to work with Color Secrets or order any polishes, please feel free to respond / contact me!
Thanks for suggesting them, Catheryn! I’ve reached out and will add them to the appropriate list when I hear back. Have a great day! 🙂
Hello Tashina, so before I pop my question, let me just tell you that I have just recently come across your blog and YOU ARE DOING SUCH A GREAT JOB! Seriously, I appreciate all the work you put into it, in order to provide your readers with nothing but the most accurate information. So, thank you 🙂
Now, onto my question. I’ve been doing a little research here and there and have even mailed a couple of companies myself, in an attempt to find as many vegan and cruelty-free nail polish brands as possible. I have also scrolled through a couple of other blogs and forums and it has been said that O.P.I, china glaze and NYX are also vegan and cruelty-free. Do you by any chance know if this is reliable, because those are brands (apart from Butter London and e.l.f) that would actually be available to me.
Thanks in advance and keep it up!
Hi Pia!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Sadly, OPI is a “required by law” brand, so they are not cruelty free any longer. NYX is cruelty free with some vegan options. I have reached out to China Glaze several time and they have been unresponsive to me, so I am unable to state if they are cruelty free or not (by my standards). I just sent them another information request, so fingers crossed I hear back this time!
What about ORLY?
Hi M,
ORLY polishes are vegan! They had been removed from this list previously due to some internal miscommunication issues on their end. I must have forgotten to add them again. Thanks for the reminder!
Kester Black is also vegan!
Unfortunately Butter London is not though. And they stole the leaping bunny logo, because they haven’t been able to gain accreditation because some of their colours aren’t vegan 🙁
http://www.hotashi.com/jetaime/?p=7683
Hi Steph,
The Leaping Bunny logo doesn’t verify if products are vegan or not, just cruelty free. I’ve never seen the Leaping Bunny used on any Butter London packaging myself. Regardless, I check with all brands listed on my Cruelty Free & Vegan Brand list and featured on Logical Harmony myself in great detail. Even brands who are certified by PETA or Leaping Bunny as being cruelty free.
Butter London was able to answer all of my questions about animal testing and their use of ingredients in a way that makes me comfortable saying they are cruelty free. I have been assured by the brand that all of their nail polish shades are vegan, but not all of their products are as some cosmetic items contain beeswax and carmine. They are not a vegan brand and do not market themselves to be an all vegan brand. Just a cruelty free brand with vegan options, including their nail colors.
I haven’t heard of Kester Black before. Thanks for the tip! I’ll look into them and see if I feel comfortable adding them to my cruelty free & vegan brand list!
I looked at the ingredient list on Ulta for Butter London nail polishes and guanine is the last ingredient. Does this mean that their metallic and glittery shades aren’t vegan?
Sadly, butter LONDON has started to use animal ingredients in their nail polishes. I have removed them from this list as a result.
Hi! I have an indie polish line named Beyond the Nail. (Find us on Etsy!)
Our polishes are vegan and are not tested on animals 🙂
Why is Scotch Naturals not listed as 100% Vegan on your brand list? Or Zoya? O_o
Thanks for pointing out Scotch Naturals! That was an oversight on my part. Zoya is listed here because all of their polishes are vegan. However, not all of their treatment products are vegan. This is why they are not listed as 100% vegan on the brands list.
noya polish is vegan.
Hello! I am interested in learning more… I must have missed it, but what animal ingredients are in nail polish? Can they be listed and explained, please? I didn’t see them listed on this post or others. Thanks!
I think Piggy Paint polishes can be included — they say they’re cruelty-free, have no animal by-products, and are odorless/eco-friendly.. what’s really cool is that they make polishes for dogs also *(*´??*)?